Smart advanced content retrieval

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatuses for implementing advanced content retrieval are described. Machine learning methods may be implemented so that a system may predict when a user device may experience network disconnections. The system may also predict the type of content one or more applications on the user device may seek to download during the network disconnection period. Neural networks may be trained based on user activity log data and may implement machine-learning techniques to determine user preferences and settings for advanced content retrieval. The system may predict when a user may want to download content in advance, the type of content the user may be interested in, anticipated network connectivity, and anticipated battery consumption. The system may then generate recommendations for the user device based on the predictions. If a user agrees with the recommendations, the system may obtain and cache the content.

FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to data communication.

BACKGROUND

Users increasingly rely on portable electronic devices to accessinformation or obtain data on demand. However, users may experiencedifficulties accessing information when their devices lack wirelessnetwork connection and they forget to download the information inadvance of the network disconnection period.

SUMMARY

This disclosure generally describes systems and methods in which a userdevice is trained to retrieve data before a time period at which nonetwork connectivity is expected.

According to implementations, methods and systems for advanced retrievalof content to be output at a future time are described. Machine learningmethods may be implemented so that a system with neural networks may betrained to predict when a user device may experience networkdisconnections. The system may also predict the type of content one ormore applications on the user device may seek to download during periodswith little or no network connection. The system may then generaterecommendations for the user device based on the predictions. If a useragrees with the recommendations, the system may obtain and cache thecontent. The stored content may be output when the user device haslittle or no network connectivity or at any other time in future.

The advanced content retrieval methods and systems described in thisspecification offer a number of advantages. For example, a user devicemay schedule content acquisition ahead of a time when the user device isnot expected to have a network connection. The content may be obtainedwith minimal or no user input. By utilizing user-specific training data,the system may generate predictions and recommendations that are moreaccurate and consistent with a practical use of the user deviceresulting in optimized and more efficient battery usage in a userdevice. Furthermore, by learning user preferences and not requiring userinputs, the user is liberated from the burden of requesting datadownload in advance or anticipating times periods when the user's devicewill be disconnected from the network. A user can direct the user'sattention elsewhere and engage in any other activity while the userdevice executes one or more operations in the background to makepredictions and obtain content.

In addition, the described methods and systems enhance utility of theapplications by providing applications with data even when no networkconnection is available. Accordingly, applications may be able tooperate with or without network connection. The advanced contentretrieval methods may be implemented with various applications and mayinteract with the applications using application programming interfacesto obtain content specific to each application.

Innovative aspects of the subject matter described in this specificationinclude, in some implementations, a computer-implemented method toperform operations. The operations include training a neural networksystem using activity log data. One or more computing devices determineone or more parameters to configure an acquisition of data at a firstfuture time based on the training of the neural network system using theactivity log data, generate a recommendation to acquire the data at thefirst future time based on the one or more parameters and the trainingof the neural network system using the activity log data, and receive auser input indicative of an acceptance or rejection of the generatedrecommendation to acquire the data at the first future time. In responseto receiving the user input indicative of an acceptance of the generatedrecommendation, the one or more computing devices obtain the data at thefirst future time from one or more content delivery servers, train theneural network system using the received user input, determine a secondfuture time to output the obtained data using the trained neural networksystem, and control a display to output the obtained data at the secondfuture time.

Implementations may each optionally include one or more of the followingfeatures. For instance, in some implementations, the one or moreparameters include a content type, a content size, a location, afinancial threshold to purchase the data, and a wireless connectivitythreshold. The activity log data includes activity data indicative ofuser behavior.

In some implementations, the determining of the one or more parametersto configure the acquisition of data at the first future time based onthe training of the neural network system using the activity log dataoperation includes operations of determining that a trigger condition issatisfied, determining a time associated with the trigger condition,determining a content type frequently obtained by a user at the timeassociated with the first future time, and determining that the firstfuture time is associated with the time associated with the triggercondition.

In some implementations, the determining the one or more parameters toconfigure the acquisition of data at the first future time based on thetraining of the neural network system using the activity log dataoperation further includes determining one or more of: a size of thecontent type; a likely financial cost of obtaining the data at the firstfuture time; and an availability of funds to pay for the likelyfinancial cost.

In some implementations, the generation of the recommendation to acquirethe data at the first future time based on the one or more parametersand the training of the neural network system using the activity logdata operation includes determining a likely level of wirelessconnectivity of a user device at the first future time; determining aprobability that an entirety of the data is downloadable at thedetermined likely level of wireless connectivity during a threshold timeperiod beginning with the first future time, the threshold time periodbeing (i) a time period during which the user device is likely to remainconnected to a wireless network at or above a particular wirelessconnectivity threshold level, or (ii) a time period selected by a seconduser input; and determining that the probability exceeds a confidencethreshold.

In some implementations, the operations further include the one or morecomputing devices controlling an output device to output therecommendation. The output device includes one or more of the display ora speaker. When the output device is the display, the user input isreceived using a graphical user interface displayed by the display.

In some implementations, the second future time is a time at which auser device including the display and the one or more computing devicesis likely not connected to a wireless network.

In some implementations, the determining of the one or more parametersto configure the acquisition of data at the first future time based onthe training of the neural network system using the activity log dataoperation includes: determining one or more applications that areconfigured to obtain application data at a particular time beforeoutputting the application data using the one or more applications; anddetermining a content type of the application data, a content size ofthe application data, a likely financial cost of obtaining theapplication data at the first future time, and an availability of fundsto pay for the likely financial cost.

Other implementations of these aspects include corresponding systems,apparatus, computer-readable storage media, and computer programsconfigured to implement the actions of the above-noted methods.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the description below. Other features andadvantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings, andthe claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1D depict exemplary scenarios of advanced content retrieval.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary user device that provisions advanced contentretrieval.

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of an exemplary method for advanced contentretrieval.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary system that provisions advanced contentretrieval.

Like reference numbers and designation in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1A-1D depict exemplary scenarios of advanced content retrieval andare generally related to a user 110 with a user device 120 preparing toboard a flight at a Departure lounge. Referring to FIG. 1A, the userdevice 120 may be connected to a wireless network, such as an airport'sWiFi network. The wireless connection may have a signal strength 130A.

The user device 120 may provide an Advance Information Retrieval (AIR)interface through which the user device 120 communicates with the user110 to obtain user instructions or push notifications to the user. TheAIR interface may be connected to an applications (app) manager and arecommendation engine, and may output one or more recommendations forretrieving content for one or more apps. For example, an electronic bookreading (e-book) application may be registered with the app manager andmay request the app manager to provide content at periods of time whenthe user is likely not to have Internet connection. The app manager mayalso provide instructions to the recommendation engine to generaterecommendations for retrieving content for the e-book app prior to thetime that the user is likely not to have an Internet connection.

For example, in FIG. 1A, the recommendation engine may determine thatuser 110 will be boarding a flight in 30 minutes and will thereafterlikely not have connection to the Internet. The recommendation enginemay then generate recommendations for one or more apps, such as thee-book app, that have registered with the app manager. In the exemplaryimplementation illustrated in FIG. 1A, the user device 120 may display aquery message “WOULD YOU LIKE TO DOWNLOAD A NEW BOOK UNDER $15, 30 MINSBEFORE YOUR DEPARTURE?” The methods of generating recommendations aredescribed in detail below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

In response to the query message, the user 110 may provide an input toanswer the query message. For example, as shown in FIG. 1B, the user 110may respond with an affirmative response to indicate that the userdevice 120 should be downloading an electronic book 30 minutes beforedeparture. The user device 120 may then download the electronic bookfrom any suitable source such as a server, database, or network storagedevice 150 and using any suitable wireless network 140, such as a Cloudsystem, as shown in FIG. 1C. If the user device 120 is configured todownload content only when the network connectivity is at or above aparticular threshold, such as a maximum network connectivity, the userdevice 120 may delay the download until network connectivity 130C of theuser device 120 satisfies the particular threshold.

As shown in FIG. 1D, when the user 110 is seated in the airplane and hasno wireless network connectivity 130D, the user 110 may wish to read thedownloaded e-book 125 through user device 120. The user 110 may thenexecute the e-book app and begin reading the e-book 125 while seated inthe airplane and without having any wireless network connectivity.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary implementation of a user device 220 that canbe used for advanced content retrieval. The user device 220 may includea transceiver 221, a recommendation engine 222, an app manager 224, astorage unit 225, a user interface 226, a processor 227, and one or moreneural networks 223.

The transceiver 221 includes a transmitter and a receiver and may beutilized to communicate with other network devices, which may includeany device that is connected to the user device 220 through a wirelessor wired network. The transceiver 221 may include amplifiers,modulators, demodulators, antennas, and various other components. Thetransceiver 221 may direct data received from other devices such asnetwork devices to other components of the user device 220 such as theprocessor 227 and storage unit 225. The transceiver 221 may also directdata received from components of the user device 220 to other networkdevices.

The user interface 226 may include one or more of a display unit,speaker, input unit, and one or more sensors. The sensors may include anoptical sensor, capacitive sensor, charge-coupled device sensor,gyroscope, microphone, altimeter, impact sensor, piezoelectric sensor,motion sensor, biosensor, active pixel sensor, and various other sensorsthat may detect one or more conditions. The input unit may includevarious devices that are configured to receive one or more inputs. Forexample, the input unit may include a mouse, a touch pad, the one ormore sensors, or a keyboard for receiving alphanumeric text.

The display unit in the user interface 226 may display various data,such as data provided through the AIR interface. The display unit may beimplemented through any suitable display including, for example, aprojection display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), or light emittingdiode (LED) display. In some implementations, the display unit, inputunit, and one or more sensors may be combined into a single integratedcomponent such as a capacitive touch screen or resistive touch screen.In some implementations, the display unit, input unit, and one or moresensors may be multiple components.

The processor 227 may be coupled to all components of the user device220, and may control the operations of the user device 220. Theprocessor 227 may include various logic circuitry and programs toexecute the various implementations described herein. In someimplementations, the processor may include multiple processors, eachexecuting one or more functions and operations.

Storage unit 225 may include one or more mass storage devices, e.g.,magnetic, magneto optical disks, optical disks, EPROM, EEPROM, flashmemory devices, and may be implemented as internal hard disks, removabledisks, magneto optical disks, CD ROM, or DVD-ROM disks for storing data.The storage unit 225 may store one or more user activity logs, rules fortraining neural networks, and rules for generating recommendations.

The app manager 224 may manage the exchange of data with one or moreapps in the user device 220. In some implementations, when an app isnewly downloaded onto the user device 220 or the user device 220 ispowered for the first time, the app manager 224 may detect the newlyinstalled app or all the apps in the user device 220 and transmit amessage to the detected app(s) indicating that a service providingadvanced retrieval of content is available.

If an app is interested in this service, the app may respond to thebroadcast message by transmitting a request to the app manager 224 toregister the app for the advanced content retrieval service. The requestto register the app may include data indicating a type of content theapp is interested in obtaining in advance, any size, frequency, andtiming limitations for the content to be obtained in advance, and, ingeneral, any other parameters or limitations for the type of content theapp is interested in obtaining in advance.

After receiving the request to register, the app manager 224 mayregister the app, store data indicative of the app-specified limitationsfor the content to be obtained in advance, and provide an applicationprogramming interface (API) to the registered app. Subsequent dataexchanged between the app and the app manager 224 may be channeledthrough the API. In some implementations, the app manager 224 maytransmit an acknowledgement message to the app or a server managing theapp indicating that the app has been registered with the app manager 224for an advanced content retrieval service.

In some implementations, after receiving the registration request froman app that includes parameters or limitations for the type of contentthe app is interested in obtaining in advance, the app manager 224 maycause the user device 220 to display a message asking the user toconfirm the parameters or limitations specified by the app for advancedcontent retrieval. The user may then confirm, remove, or add one or moreparameters or limitations specified by the app. The app manager 224 maythen save settings that include the parameters or limitations for theapp that have been confirmed or selected by the user.

For example, a social network app may request the app manager 224 toprovide location predictions and advanced content retrieval based on thepredicted location, e.g., if a user is predicted to be at a particularlocation with poor network connectivity, the social network app mayrequest providing menus for restaurants in the particular location inadvance. However, a user may confirm or deny the request to providelocation predictions and advanced content retrieval for the socialnetwork app.

In some implementations, the app manager 224 may not broadcast a messageto the detected apps upon user device 220 startup or upon installationof an app. In these implementations, the app manager 224 may remain in alistening mode, receive registration requests from one or more apps, andprovide an advanced content retrieval API upon registering apps that theapp manager 224 receives requests from.

Neural networks 223 may collect data from various signals, use thecollected data to train the neural networks 223, and generatepredictions. Sources of the signals used to train the neural networks223 may be external or internal to the user device 220. For example, theneural networks 223 may receive data from one or more databases orservers that store user activity logs and that store rules for trainingthe neural networks 223. The neural networks 223 may also receivetraining data from an external server or data indicative of phone usagepatterns such as phone call data and chat data for a phone serviceprovider.

In some cases, the neural networks 223 may receive data from transceiver221 indicating a network connectivity status and sensors included in theuser device 220 such as location sensors, motion sensors, temperatureand environmental sensors, audio sensors, light sensors, capacitivesensors, and resistive sensors. For instance, the neural networks 223may receive information about network connectivity in certain locations,under certain environmental conditions, at particular times of the day,or under certain lighting and audio conditions.

The neural networks 223 may also receive data directly from apps on theuser device 220 such as a calendar app, travel apps, banking apps,indicative of operations executed by the apps, user preferences andselections made through the apps, a frequency of use of apps, andfrequency of functions executed by the used apps. The user activity logmay also collect data indicative of a movement of the user or userdevice 220, locations that the user device 220 or user may have beenpresent in, user travel plans, shopping transactions, bankingtransactions, and social media interactions.

The user may be provided with controls allowing the user to elect if andwhen the user device 220, systems, programs or features described hereinmay collect data for the user activity log or training of the neuralnetwork, and if the user is interested in receiving recommendations fromthe user device 220. Any user data collected may be treated in one ormore ways before it is stored or used, so that personally identifiableinformation is removed. For example, a user's identity may be treated sothat no personally identifiable information can be determined for theuser, or a user's geographic location may be generalized where locationinformation is obtained (such as to a city, ZIP code, or state level),so that a particular location of the user cannot be determined. Thus,the user may have control over what information is collected, how thatinformation is used, and what information is provided to the user.

In some implementations, the neural networks 223 may receive data orrules for configuring a training model for the neural networks 223. Forexample, the neural networks 223 may receive configuration data toexecute machine-learning operations according to any suitable neuralnetwork model, including but not limited to, a Recurrent Neural Network(RNN), Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), or alarge Feed Forward Neural Network.

Data collected by the neural networks 223 may be collected in anysuitable format and may be time stamped and tagged with sourceidentifiers to indicate which apps, sensors, or other source providedtraining data and the time and date the data was provided. Based on thecollected data and the training model, the neural networks 223 maygenerate one or more predictions.

In some implementations, the neural networks 223 may predict periods ofinternet disconnection, intermittent connectivity, or other states ofnetwork connectivity. In some implementations, the neural networks 223may predict locations and times at which a network connectivity of theuser device 220 will be less than a network connectivity threshold andpredict the content type most likely consumed by the user at thepredicted times and locations.

For example, in some implementations, the neural network 223 mayidentify disconnected time periods in the past when the user device 220had network connectivity below a particular signal threshold level. Theneural network 223 may then determine corresponding conditionsassociated with the disconnected time periods. These correspondingconditions may include a location of the user device 220 immediatelybefore, during, and immediately after the disconnected time periods, anactivity that the user was likely engaged in immediately before, during,and immediately after the disconnected time periods, an app or operationthat is executed immediately before, during, and immediately after thedisconnected time periods, and data that is accessed immediately before,during, and immediately after the disconnected time periods. The lengthof the time period immediately before or after the disconnected timeperiods may be set by a user or configured by a systems designer.

As an example, the neural network 223 may predict that a user willlikely watch a video on a flight during the upcoming Monday and Thursdaybecause the user watches movies when the user travels by air everyMonday and Thursday and lacks Internet connectivity while on theaircraft. In another example, the neural networks 223 may predict thatthe user will likely read an electronic book on the third Saturday ofthe current month while on a camping trip because the user typicallytravels to a camp site that lacks network connectivity on the thirdSaturday of six or more months of the year.

As another example, if the user device 220 is connected to a WiFinetwork of an airport, the user device 220 may determine that the userdevice 220 is likely to have the same signal strength for the timeduration before the scheduled flight departure time. If the user device120 is connected to a cellular network, the user device 220 maydetermine that the user device 220 is unlikely to have required signalstrength for the time duration before the scheduled flight departuretime.

In some implementations, the neural networks 223 may also predict adegree of phone usage by the user, along with type of usage to inferbattery consumption. For example, using user activity log data thatindicates similar user activities in the past, the neural networks 223may predict that the user is likely to go for a run on weekday eveningsand use GPS tracking for 20 minutes, or that the user is scheduled to goon a boat trip with friends where the user is likely not going to havegood network connectivity, and will likely take photos or videos. Theneural networks 223 may then infer the amount of battery consumptionlikely to occur at a particular time by determining the batteryconsumption for the same activities in the past, and whether the likelybattery status and network connectivity will be sufficient to supportthe downloading of data at particular times.

The neural networks 223 may be trained to detect time periods andlocations in which battery consumption may impact the user device 220'sability to download content. For example, the neural network 223 maydetermine the likely amount of time and power required for the userdevice 220 to download data of a particular size, e.g., 100 MB, at thelikely level of network connectivity when the data is to be downloaded.The neural network 223 may then compare the determined amount of timeand power and compare it with the current battery level or anticipatedbattery level at the time the data is to be downloaded, and determine ifthe user device 220 has sufficient battery power or not.

In some implementations, the neural networks 223 may predict userpreferences such as cost preferences, type of data to be downloaded,network connection thresholds, battery thresholds, and in general anyuser setting. The user preferences may be derived by the neural networks223 using training data from different data sources, including, forexample, user activity log data. For example, if a user frequentlydownloads e-books, pays less than $15 for each book, and has refused topurchase e-books that cost more than $15, the neural network 223 maydetermine that the user has a preference of purchasing e-books that areunder $15.

In some cases, based on previous instances of advanced data contentretrieval operations, the neural networks 223 may determine that a userhas a strong preference to perform an advanced content retrievaloperation when the user device 223's remaining battery power is equal toor greater than a particular threshold, e.g., 25%, of the user device220's total battery power. In some cases, based on previous instances ofadvanced data content retrieval operations, the neural networks 223 maydetermine that a user has a strong preference to perform an advancedcontent retrieval operation only if the wireless signal strength fornetwork connection is equal to or greater than a particular networkconnection threshold, e.g., 25%.

In some implementations, the neural networks 223 be integrated with arecommendation engine 222, and, in some implementations, the neuralnetworks 223 may be separate from but connected to a recommendationengine 222. The recommendation engine 222 may generate recommendationsfor apps that have registered with the app manager 224 according to oneor more of user settings, predictions provided by the neural networks223, confidence levels, and one or more parameters such as an amount oftime the user anticipates not having access to a network, a timeduration that the user is likely to remain wirelessly connected, anidentification of the content to acquire, a size limit for the contentto be acquired, an app for which the content is to be used with, afinancial threshold for acquiring the content, a minimum batterythreshold to sustain while acquiring the content, and a minimum networkconnectivity threshold while acquiring the content.

The user settings may include, but are not limited to, one or more ofsettings that specify apps for which recommendations should be providedfor, locations for which recommendations should be provided for, a timeduration or period to provide the recommendation before a time whennetwork connection below a network connectivity threshold is predicted,a confidence threshold for predictions, and whether the user would liketo receive confirmation notifications.

For example, in some cases, a user may specify that only recommendationsfor apps related to navigation services such as Google Maps should beprovided. In some cases, a user may specify that recommendations shouldonly be provided when the user is expected to travel or when the user isat a particular location, such as an airport. In some cases, the usermay select an option that the user device 220 must request confirmationsfor the recommendations generated by the recommendation engine 222 or anoption that the user device 220 should execute the recommendationsautomatically without user confirmation. In some cases, the user mayspecify that only predictions that have a particular confidencethreshold, e.g., 60% or more, should generate correspondingrecommendations. If the user does not provide information regardingparticular settings, the recommendation engine 222 may use defaultvalues for the particular settings.

The recommendation engine 222 may receive one or more predictions fromthe neural networks 223, determine a confidence level associated withthe predictions, filter the predictions based on the user settings andconfidence levels, and generate a recommendation based on thepredictions that have passed the filtering. The generatedrecommendations may be displayed to the user through the AIR interfaceand may include an indication of the determined confidence levelassociated with a particular recommendation.

A confidence level may indicate a degree of certainty or relevance of aprediction to a user. The confidence level may be based on one or moreof the user's activity log, the user's settings, and default confidencelevels set by an app for certain predictions. As an example, the neuralnetwork 223 may generate a prediction that, in 48 hours, the user islikely to go camping where the user does not have internet connectionand that the user may want to download a movie before going camping. Ifthe user has frequently downloaded a movie before going camping, forexample in six out of eight of the user's previous camping trips, therecommendation engine 222 may assign a high confidence level to theprediction. In contrast, if the user has infrequently downloaded a moviebefore going camping, for example in less than four out of eightprevious camping trips, or if the user has only gone camping oncebefore, the recommendation engine 222 may assign a low confidence levelto the prediction.

In another example, the neural network 223 may generate a predictionthat the user will likely request navigation instructions through anavigation app when returning from a remote location with little or nonetwork access, such as a camping location, in three days. Thenavigation app may assign a high confidence level for predictions of theuser likely wanting to obtain navigation instructions when the user ispredicted to be at a location without network access. Thus, therecommendation engine 222 may assign a high confidence level to theprediction of the user likely wanting to obtain driving instructionsfrom the camping location back to the user's home.

In some implementations, the neural networks 223 may query the user ifthe recommendation engine 222 determines that a particular predictionhas a low confidence level. For example, if a prediction that the userwill have a low signal connectivity in 3 hours time is assigned a lowconfidence level, the neural networks 223 may output a question throughuser interface 226 asking the user, for example, “Do you anticipatehaving low wireless signal connectivity in 3 hours?” Based on userfeedback to the query, the neural networks 223 may update its predictionand improve its confidence level in the updated prediction.

After obtaining a prediction and a confidence level associated with theprediction, the recommendation engine 222 may then filter the predictionbased on user settings and a confidence level associated with theprediction. For example, the user may have previously indicated that theuser is not interested in receiving any recommendations for anelectronic book reading app. Thus, even though the neural networks 223may predict that the user will likely read a book at a time in futurewhen the user device 220 is likely to be disconnected from a network,the recommendation engine 222 will assign a high confidence level butstill filter the prediction out due to user preferences. As anotherexample, a user may have previously indicated that the user is notinterested in viewing recommendations that are more than a particulartime period, e.g., 1 hour, before the time that a network connection ofthe user device 220 falls below a network connectivity threshold.

In some implementations, the recommendation engine 222 is configured tofilter out predictions that have a determined confidence level of lessthan a particular threshold, e.g., 50% confidence level. In someimplementations, a tiered filtering schedule may be implemented. Forexample, for predictions that have a confidence level greater than afirst threshold, e.g., 80%, the recommendation engine 222 may allow theprediction to pass and may not request any feedback from the user. Forpredictions that have a confidence level greater than a secondthreshold. e.g., 30%, but less than or equal to the first threshold,e.g., 80%, the recommendation engine 222 may be configured to query theuser to determine if the user is interested in a particular prediction.A user response to the query may then be logged into the user activitylog data. For predictions that have a confidence level less than orequal to the second threshold. e.g., 30%, the recommendation engine 222may be configured to filter out such predictions and not to generate anyrecommendations for such predictions.

After a particular prediction passes the filtering or is flagged asbeing of interest to the user in response to the query, therecommendation engine 222 may generate a recommendation with theparticular prediction. In some implementations, the recommendation mayinclude a confidence indicator, which is a graphical representation ofthe determined confidence level for the prediction in therecommendation. The graphical representation may be output in varioussuitable manner such as, for example, numerically, by color, text, anicon, or using an audio signal.

For example, in some cases, a recommendation may be displayed in a greencolor if the recommendation has a high confidence level or arecommendation may be displayed in a red color if the recommendation hasa low confidence level. In some cases, a recommendation may be displayedwith a thumbs-up graphical icon if the recommendation has a highconfidence level or a recommendation may be displayed with a thumbs-downgraphical icon if the recommendation has a low confidence level. In somecases, a number indicative of the confidence level may be displayedalong with the recommendation.

In some implementations, the generated recommendation may be customizedaccording to user preferences specified by the user or provided bytraining data that trained the neural networks 223. For example, thegenerated recommendation may be performed only at particular times,signal levels, or battery levels that the neural networks 223 havedetermined are preferred by the user. For example, as described aboveand depicted in FIG. 1A, the neural networks 223 may determine that auser likes to download e-books that cost less than $15 before boarding aflight. The recommendation engine 222 may then customize the e-bookrecommendation generated for an electronic book reader app in the userdevice and customize the recommendation with cost information, timinginformation that the neural networks 223 have learnt are userpreferences, and an associated confidence level, e.g., 85%.

In some implementations, the user may adjust the timing for certainrecommendations based on the anticipated battery usage. For example, theneural networks 223 may predict that the battery for the user devicewill last a certain period of time, e.g., another two hours, accordingto the user's typical battery consumption pattern during a day. If thereis a prediction for a time period without network connectivity thatoccurs after the likely duration of battery life, the recommendationengine 222 may modify the timing of the recommendation and provide anearlier recommendation to download data in view of the likely lack ofbattery power in future. Thus, in the example shown in FIG. 1A, if theneural networks 223 determined that the power to user device's batterywas likely to be finished by 2:30 PM, the recommendation engine 222 mayrecommend the downloading of the e-book at a time before 2:30 PM.

If the user has previously selected the option to obtain userconfirmation of recommendations, a generated recommendation will includea request for the user to confirm the recommendation, as shown in FIG.1A. If the user has not previously selected the option to obtain userconfirmation of recommendations, the user device 220 may automaticallyinitiate execution of a recommendation and will display a notificationthrough the AIR interface indicating that the user device 220 is aboutto execute an operation according to a recommended action. For example,the user device 220 may display a message to the user through the AIRinterface indicating that the user device 220 will begin downloading ane-book for under $15 in a few minutes or at a particular time, e.g., 30minutes before departure. In some implementations, along with themessage, the user may be presented with a selectable button to cancelthe downloading operation. The user may then select the cancel button ifthe user does not want to download the e-book in the manner recommendedby the recommendation engine 222.

Although the implementations described above include descriptions ofoperations performed by the user device 220, in some implementations,some or all of the one or more operations executed to generaterecommendations and obtain content may be performed by a server or, ingeneral, any computer system connected to the user device 220.

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of an exemplary method for advanced contentretrieval. For convenience, the following description will refer to theoperations depicted in FIG. 3 as being conducted by a system. The systemmay refer to a user device, or a server, a computer network, or systemwith one or more computing devices and processors that is connected to auser device. Although the operations are depicted in a certain order inFIG. 3, the operations may be conducted in different orders.

Referring to FIG. 3, the system may register one or more apps for anadvanced content retrieval service (310). As noted above, apps maysubscribe to the advanced content retrieval service by registering withan app manager in the system. In some cases, a user may select an app toreceive content in advance. App registration includes storing dataindicative of one or more of an app, functions within an app, content tobe obtained in advance, and any parameters or limitations for the typeof content the app is interested in obtaining in advance. Uponregistering an app, the system provides an application programminginterface (API) to the registered app. Recommendations for particularapps may be sent through the respective APIs for each app.

The system also maintains a user activity log (312). The user activitylog may include data indicative of one or more of the user's phone usagepatterns, operations executed by the apps, a frequency of use of apps,and frequency of functions executed by the used apps. The user activitylog may also include data indicative of one or more of user movement,user location, user travel plans, shopping transactions, bankingtransactions, and social media interactions. The user activity log maybe stored in a database, server, or the user device. As noted above, auser may control the manner in which user data is collected and storedsuch that no personally identifiable information can be determined.

In addition to maintaining a user activity log, the system also obtainsuser settings and preferences (312). As noted above, the user settingsand preferences may include one or more of permissions to collect userinformation, battery, financial, and network connectivity thresholds foradvance content retrieval, user preferences and selections made throughthe apps, apps or app functions permitted to participate in advancedcontent, locations for which recommendations should be provided for, atime duration or period to provide the recommendation before a time whennetwork connectivity below a network connection threshold is predicted,a confidence threshold for predictions, and whether the user would liketo receive notifications requesting confirmation of recommendations.

In some implementations, the user settings and preferences may beobtained by virtue of the inputs and selections made by the user throughthe AIR interface. Various suitable methods of receiving user inputs andselections may be utilized. For example, user inputs may be receivedthrough one or more of a motion sensor, gyroscope, or haptic feedbacksensor, mouse, keyboard, and touch screen. In some implementations, thesystem may determine the user settings and preferences through neuralnetwork predictions as described above.

The user activity log data and user settings and preferences data may beused as training data to train one or more neural networks (314). Asdescribed above, the neural networks may collect data from varioussignals, use the collected data for training, and generate predictions.The neural networks may execute one or more computations required fortraining machine learning models. In general, any suitable neuralnetwork model may be used, including but not limited to, a RecurrentNeural Network (RNN), Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU), Long Short-Term Memory(LSTM), or a large Feed Forward Neural Network.

The training includes determining disconnected time periods in the pastwhen the user device had network connectivity below a particular signalthreshold level, and determining corresponding conditions associatedwith the disconnected time periods. These corresponding conditions mayinclude a location of the user device immediately before, during, andimmediately after the disconnected time periods, an activity that theuser was likely engaged in immediately before, during, and immediatelyafter the disconnected time periods, an app or operation that isexecuted immediately before, during, and immediately after thedisconnected time periods, and data that is accessed immediately before,during, and immediately after the disconnected time periods.

After the training, the system may generate one or more predictions forthe registered apps (316). In particular, the system may identifytrigger conditions or likely time periods (referred generally to asdisconnected time periods) when network connectivity is likely to bebelow a network connectivity threshold, and determine likelycorresponding conditions during the disconnected time periods. Thecorresponding conditions may include a likely location of a user device,an activity that the user will likely be engaged during the likelydisconnected time period, and an app or operation likely to be executedat the likely disconnected time period.

In some implementations, if the user has not provided any informationindicating a time duration that the user is likely to remain wirelesslyconnected, the system may predict the time duration. For example, if auser utilized an electronic boarding pass at the airport, the userdevice may determine that the user device may have wireless connectionaccess from the current or present time to the boarding time of theflight. In general, the system may obtain data that indicates a time atwhich a likely change in the wireless connection status or a physicalenvironment of the user device will occur. The system may then calculatethe difference from the present time to the time at which a likelychange in the wireless connection status or a physical environment ofthe user device will occur. The calculated time difference maycorrespond to the time duration that the user is likely to remainwirelessly connected.

In some implementations, the system may search the user device'slocation history and determine if the user device has been in thepresent location before. If the user device has been in the presentlocation before, the system may calculate an average amount of time theuser device typically remains in the location, and set this average timeas the time duration that the user is likely to remain wirelesslyconnected.

In some implementations, the system may determine the likely wirelessconnection strength for the amount of time the user is likely to beconnected to a network. The system may use one or more signals todetermine the likely wireless connection strength. For example, in somecases, the system may search the user device's location history anddetermine if the user device has been in the present location before. Ifthe user device has been in the present location before, the system maydetermine the average wireless signal strength that the user device hadwhen located in the present location in the past. The past averagewireless signal strength and the current signal strength may be used asfactors and weighed to determine the likely wireless connectionstrength.

In some cases, the system may determine the likelihood of the user'sdevice wireless connectivity status to change based on the user device'slocation. For example, if the system determines that the user device'slocation is rapidly changing or that the user device is moving in apattern that corresponds to vehicular movement, the system may determinethat the wireless connectivity of the user device is likely to changefrequently and may not remain at the present connectivity level.

In some cases, the system may determine that the user device is locatedat a building or facility, such as a shopping mall, office, school, orcafé, and that the user device's position is not changing. The systemmay then determine that the wireless connectivity level is likely toremain unchanged at the existing connectivity level. As should beappreciated from the foregoing, various methods may be used to determinethe likely wireless connection strength of the user device for theamount of time the user is likely to remain wirelessly connected.

The system may also predict the likely content to be obtained during thelikely disconnected time periods. The likely content to be obtained mayvary according to the app for which the content is being obtained for.In some implementations, to identify content to be included in aprediction, the system may communicate with an app and determine thecontent that can be provided to or requested by the app. For instance,the system may communicate with an e-book app installed in the userdevice to obtain data identifying the next book on the user's wish list.As another example, the content obtained for an entertainment app may bea mini-series episode, a movie, or an audio song that is on a wish listof a user. A wish list may refer to data that the user does not yet haveaccess to or has not yet downloaded onto the user device, but would liketo access in future. Content obtained for a navigation app may includedirections to and from a particular destination that the user isanticipated to travel to during the likely disconnected time period.Thus, the system may predict one or more likely disconnected timeperiods and the likely content to be obtained during the likelydisconnected time periods.

In some implementations, after determining a data size or file size ofthe content to be acquired from the one or more resources and the likelystrength of the wireless connection, the system may determine the timerequired to acquire the content based on the likely wireless connectionstrength. For example, the system may predict the likely data rate atwhich data will be received at the likely wireless connection strength,and utilize the likely data rate to determine the likely time requiredto acquire the content. The system may compare the likely time requiredto acquire the content with the time duration that the user device islikely to remain wirelessly connected to determine if sufficient time isavailable to acquire the content. In some cases, as shown in exemplaryTABLE I below, the system may also calculate the time required toacquire the content based on variations in the likely wirelessconnection strength.

TABLE I Likely Wireless Time Sufficient Content Size Connectivity TimeRequired Available time? 10 MB Excellent (95%)  5 mins 10 mins Yes 10 MBGood (75%) 8 mins, 30 sec 10 mins Yes 10 MB Poor (40%) 12 mins 10 minsNo 10 MB Very poor (5%) 20 mins 10 mins No

The data shown in TABLE I is for illustrative purposes. As noted inTABLE I, when the size of the content is 10 MB, the system may determinethat the content may be acquired from a resource at wirelessconnectivity strengths of 75% or 95% of the maximum signal strength, butnot for wireless connectivity strengths of 40% or 5% because the contentwill not have been downloaded from the resource in the available time.

The system may also implement other variations of TABLE I that include,for example, variations in the likely wireless connection strength,variations in the content size based on the different resources,variations in the user device's battery levels, and any other relevantvariation.

As described above, a recommendation engine may receive one or morepredictions from the neural networks, determine a confidence levelassociated with the predictions, filter the predictions based on theuser settings and confidence levels, and generate a recommendation basedon the predictions that have passed the filtering (318). Therecommendations may be generated according to one or more of usersettings, predictions provided by the neural networks, confidencelevels, and one or more parameters such as an amount of time the useranticipates not having access to a network, a time duration that theuser is likely to remain wirelessly connected, an identification of thecontent to acquire, a size limit for the content to be acquired, an appfor which the content is to be used with, a financial threshold foracquiring the content, a minimum battery threshold to sustain whileacquiring the content, and a minimum network connectivity thresholdwhile acquiring the content.

In some implementations, prior to generating a recommendation, thesystem may identify one or more sources from which content can beobtained from and determine whether the content acquisition satisfiesdownloading conditions. For example, the system may conduct a search forcontent to be obtained and filter the search results to identify one ormore resources from which the content can be obtained. The system maythen communicate with the identified one or more resources to obtainacquisition data such as a size of the content to be obtained and a costto purchase the content. The cost to purchase content may include anycost associated with the purchase such as, for example, a cost to accessthe Internet or wireless network, to complete an online purchase. Basedon the acquisition data, the system may i) determine whether the userdevice has sufficient storage available to store the content; ii)determine how long it may take to download the content and one or morevariations in the predicted download time period based on variations inthe wireless network signal strength, and iii) determine whether thecosts associated with acquiring the content satisfy a user's financialthreshold.

In some implementations, the financial threshold for acquiring thecontent may include a maximum amount of money (e.g., dollars) the useris willing to spend on acquiring content. In some implementations, thefinancial threshold may be predicted by the neural networks based onprevious user financial transactions involving similar type of content.In some implementations, a user may set the financial threshold. Whenproviding financial threshold information, the user may also providepayment information for processing payments, such as credit cardinformation or a payment service account. The payment information may beused to process any payments to acquire content.

The user settings may include, but are not limited to, one or more ofsettings that specify which apps recommendations should be provided for,locations for which recommendations should be provided for, financialthresholds for particular apps, a time duration or period to provide therecommendation before a disconnected time period is predicted, aconfidence threshold for predictions, and whether the user would like toapprove or confirm the generated recommendations.

In some implementations, the minimum battery threshold to sustain whileacquiring content and the minimum network connectivity threshold duringthe time content is being acquired may include percentage thresholds.For example, the system may determine that the user preference for aminimum network connectivity level is, for example, 30% of maximumsignal connectivity, and a minimum battery power level is, for example,10% of maximum battery levels, when downloading content. The 30% and 10%levels may be set as the minimum network connectivity threshold and theminimum battery threshold, respectively. The system may then onlygenerate recommendations for obtaining content when the user devicepredicts a likely wireless signal strength and battery level that isabove these minimum thresholds during the disconnected time period.

Based on the above-noted determinations and operations, the system maydetermine whether content can be acquired. For example, in someimplementations, the system may determine that the content can beacquired if one or more of the following conditions are satisfied: theuser device is predicted to sustain a battery level greater than theminimum threshold level provided by the user for the time duration thatthe user is likely to remain wirelessly connected; the user device ispredicted to sustain a wireless connection level greater than theminimum threshold level provided by the user for the time duration thatthe user is likely to remain wirelessly connected; payment for accessingthe content can be made based on the user-provided financial threshold;the content can be obtained from one or more resources; a data size ofthe content is equal to or less than the available storage in the userdevice; and a time available to acquire the content exceeds the timerequired to acquire the content. If the content can be acquired, arecommendation is generated.

The generated recommendations may be displayed to the user through theAIR interface and may include an indication of the determined confidencelevel associated with a particular recommendation. In someimplementations, if the user has indicated that the user would prefer toapprove or confirm generated recommendations, the system may display anotification that queries whether the user would like to accept therecommendation.

The system may then receive a response from the user indicating whetherthe user accepted or rejected the generated recommendation (320). Theuser's response may be recorded in the user activity log data and usedto further train the neural networks (314). For example, if arecommendation is repeatedly rejected by the user more than a thresholdnumber of times, the system may then filter out future predictions thatcorrespond to the rejected recommendation.

If the user accepts the generated recommendation, the content noted inthe recommendation is downloaded upon satisfaction of the conditions andtime included in the recommendation (322). The content may be downloadedfrom any suitable data source such as a server, database, or networkstorage device, and may be cached in a memory local to the user deviceso that the user device can access the content at any point in future.To download content, the system may execute any operation to obtain thecontent. For example, the system may conduct content searchingoperations, payment-processing operations, and operations to connectwith one or more content providers.

The downloaded and stored content may be output at any time of theuser's choice (324). In some implementations, the user may open an appand select the content for output at a time when the user device is notconnected to any network such as the Internet. In general, the contentmay be output in various ways. For example, if the downloaded contentcorresponds to a media file, the downloaded content may be output as anaudio signal. In some cases, the downloaded content may be outputthrough a display device connected or coupled to the user device.

Embodiments and all of the functional operations and/or actionsdescribed in this specification may be implemented in digital electroniccircuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including thestructures disclosed in this specification and their structuralequivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them. FIG. 4 is ablock diagram of computing devices 400, 450 that may be used toimplement the systems and methods described herein. Computing device 400represents various forms of digital computers, such as workstations,servers, blade servers, mainframes, and other appropriate computers.Computing device 450 represents various forms of user devices, such aspersonal digital assistants, cellular telephones, smartphones, smarttelevisions, watches, and other similar computing devices. Thecomponents shown here, their connections and relationships, and theirfunctions, are exemplary, and do not limit implementations describedherein.

Computing device 400 includes a processor 402, memory 404, a storagedevice 406, a high-speed interface 408 connecting to memory 404 andhigh-speed expansion ports 410, and a low speed interface 412 connectingto low speed bus 414 and storage device 406. Each of the components 402,404, 406, 408, 410, and 412, are interconnected using various busses,and may be mounted on a common motherboard or in other manners. Theprocessor 402 can process instructions for execution within thecomputing device 400, including instructions stored in the memory 404 oron the storage device 406 to display graphical information for a GUI onan external input/output device, such as display 416 coupled to highspeed interface 408. In some implementations, multiple processors and/ormultiple buses may be used, as appropriate, along with multiple memoriesand types of memory. Also, multiple computing devices 400 may beconnected, with each device providing portions of the necessaryoperations (e.g., as a server bank, a group of blade servers, or amulti-processor system). In general, the processor 402 may controloperations of the computing device 400, and may include various logiccircuitry and programs to execute implementations described herein

The memory 404 stores information within the computing device 400. Insome implementations, the memory 404 may include one or more of acomputer-readable medium, a volatile memory unit(s), or a non-volatilememory unit(s).

The storage device 406 is capable of providing mass storage for thecomputing device 400. In some implementations, the storage device 406may include one or more mass storage devices, for example, magnetic,magneto optical disks, optical disks, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memorydevices, and may be implemented as internal hard disks, removable disks,magneto optical disks, CD ROM, or DVD-ROM disks for storing data. Insome implementations, the storage device 406 may include a non-tangiblecomputer-readable storage medium that contains instructions, which whenexecuted, perform one or more methods or portions of the methodsdescribed above. In some implementations, the storage device 406 maystore rules for determining whether content can be acquired based on oneor more parameters provided by a user.

The high-speed controller 408 manages bandwidth-intensive operations forthe computing device 400, while the low speed controller 412 manageslower bandwidth-intensive operations. Such allocation of duties isexemplary. In some implementations, the high-speed controller 408 iscoupled to memory 404, display 416 (e.g., through a graphics processoror accelerator), and to high-speed expansion ports 410, which may acceptvarious expansion cards (not shown). In some implementations, alow-speed controller 412 is coupled to storage device 406 and low-speedexpansion port 414. The low-speed expansion port, which may includevarious communication ports (e.g., USB, Bluetooth, Ethernet, wirelessEthernet) may be coupled to one or more input/output devices, such as akeyboard, a pointing device, a scanner, or a networking device such as aswitch or router, e.g., through a network adapter.

The computing device 400 may be implemented in a number of differentforms, as shown in the figure. For example, computing device 400 may beimplemented as a standard server 420, a group of such servers, or aspart of a rack server system. The server 420 may be, for example, one ormore of a network server, a playlist sharing application server, acontent server, a playlist management server. In some implementations,the computing device 400 may be implemented as a personal computer suchas a laptop computer.

In some implementations, the computing device 400 may wirelesslycommunicate with device 450 over one or more networks to execute one ormore operations of the method described in FIG. 3. In someimplementations, the computing device 400, when operating as a contentprovider, may receive a request for content from device 450 and, inresponse, may provide the requested content to device 450. In someimplementations, the computing device 400 execute one or more of theoperations illustrated in FIG. 3 and may control device 450 to displaythe AIR and fetching parameter interfaces and to receive user inputs.

The one or more networks connecting computing devices 400 and 450 mayinclude access points, storage systems, cloud systems, modules, one ormore databases including one or more media databases, and serversincluding one or more network servers such as computing device 400. Theone or more network servers may include any suitable computing devicecoupled to the one or more networks, including but not limited to apersonal computer, a server computer, a series of server computers, amini computer, and a mainframe computer, or combinations thereof. Theone or more network servers may also include an application server, aweb server, or a series of servers, running a network operating system,examples of which may include but are not limited to Microsoft® Windows®Server, Novell® NetWare®, or Linux®. The one or more network servers maybe used for and/or provide cloud and/or network computing and mediaprovision services. Although not shown in the figures, the server mayhave connections to external systems providing messaging functionalitysuch as e-mail, SMS messaging, text messaging, and otherfunctionalities, such as advertising services, search services, etc.

In some implementations, the one or more networks may include a cloudsystem that may provide Internet connectivity and other network-relatedfunctions. For example, the cloud system may provide storage servicesfor at least a portion of the data transmitted between components of thesystem.

The cloud system or one or more networks may also include one or moredatabases, which may include a media storage database, a media provisiondatabase, a cloud database, or a database managed by a databasemanagement system (DBMS). A DBMS may be implemented as an engine thatcontrols organization, storage, management, and retrieval of data in adatabase. DBMSs frequently provide the ability to query, backup andreplicate data, enforce rules, provide security, do computation, performchange and access logging, and automate optimization. A DBMS typicallyincludes a modeling language, data structure, database query language,and transaction mechanism. The modeling language is used to define theschema of each database in the DBMS, according to the database model,which may include a hierarchical model, network model, relational model,object model, or some other applicable known or convenient organization.Data structures can include fields, records, files, objects, and anyother applicable known or convenient structures for storing data. A DBMSmay also include metadata about the data that is stored.

Computing device 450 may include a processor 452, memory 464, a userinterface such as a display 454, a communication interface 466, and atransceiver 468, among other components. Each of the components 450,452, 464, 454, 466, and 468, may be interconnected using various buses,and several of the components may be mounted on a common motherboard orin other manners as appropriate.

The transceiver 468 may include a transmitter and a receiver and may beutilized to communicate with devices in the one or more networks andcomponents within computing device 450. The transceiver 468 may includeamplifiers, modulators, demodulators, antennas, and various othercomponents. The transceiver 468 may direct data received from otherexternal devices, such as servers, databases, portable devices connectedto a wireless network, to other components in the computing device 450such as the processor 452 and memory 464. The transceiver 468 may alsodirect data received from components in the computing device 450 toexternal devices.

Device 450 may communicate wirelessly through communication interface466, which may include digital signal processing circuitry wherenecessary. Communication interface 466 may provide for communicationsunder various modes or protocols, such as GSM voice calls, SMS, EMS, orMMS messaging, CDMA, TDMA, PDC, WCDMA, CDMA2000, or GPRS, among others.Such communication may occur, for example, through radio-frequencytransceiver 468. In addition, short-range communication may occur, suchas using a Bluetooth, WiFi, or other such transceiver (not shown). Inaddition, GPS receiver module 470 may provide location services andadditional wireless data to device 450, which may be used byapplications running on device 450.

Memory 464 stores information within the computing device 450, and, insome implementations, may also be coupled to one or more additionalstorage devices to provide additional storage. The memory 464 mayinclude a computer-readable storage medium or store one or more modulesof computer program instructions encoded on a computer-readable storagemedium for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processingapparatus. The computer-readable medium may be a machine-readablestorage device, a machine-readable storage substrate, a memory device, acomposition of matter effecting a machine-readable propagated signal, ora combination of one or more of them. The term “data processingapparatus” encompasses all apparatus, devices, and machines forprocessing data, including by way of example a programmable processor, acomputer, or multiple processors or computers. The apparatus mayinclude, in addition to hardware, code that creates an executionenvironment for the computer program in question, for example, code thatconstitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database managementsystem, an operating system, or a combination of one or more of them. Apropagated signal is an artificially generated signal, for example, amachine-generated electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal that isgenerated to encode information for transmission to suitable receiverapparatus.

A computer program, also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, plug-in, or code, may be written in any form ofprogramming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, andit may be deployed in any form, including as a standalone program or asa module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in acomputing environment. A computer program does not necessarilycorrespond to a file in a file system. A program may be stored in aportion of a file that holds other programs or data in a single filededicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files.A computer program may be deployed to be executed on one computer or onmultiple computers that are located at one site or distributed acrossmultiple sites and interconnected by a communication network.

In some implementations, the memory 464 may be a volatile memory unit orunits. In some implementations, the memory 464 may be a non-volatilememory unit or units. Expansion memory 474 may also be provided andconnected to device 450 through expansion interface 472, which mayinclude, for example, a SIMM card interface. Such expansion memory 474may provide extra storage space for device 450, or may also storeapplications or other information for device 450. For example, expansionmemory 474 may include instructions to carry out or supplement theprocesses described above, and may include secure information also.Thus, for example, expansion memory 474 may be provided as a securitymodule for device 450, and may be programmed with instructions thatpermit secure use of device 450. In addition, secure applications may beprovided via the SIMM cards, along with additional information, such asplacing identifying information on the SIMM card in a non-hackablemanner.

The memory may include, for example, one or more mass storage devices,for example, magnetic, magneto optical disks, optical disks, EPROM,EEPROM, flash memory devices, and may be implemented as internal harddisks, removable disks, magneto optical disks, CD ROM, or DVD-ROM disksfor storing data. In some cases, the memory may store rules for trainingneural networks, and may include a cache for temporarily storing theacquired content.

The processes and logic flows described in this specification may beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform actions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows may also be performedby, and apparatus may also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry, for example, an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or anASIC (application specific integrated circuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Theprocessor 452 can process instructions for execution within thecomputing device 450, including instructions stored in the memory 464.The processor may also include separate analog and digital processors.The processor may provide, for example, for coordination of the othercomponents of the device 450, such as control of user interfaces,applications run by device 450, and wireless communication by device450. Generally, a processor may control operations of the computingdevice 450, and may include various logic circuitry and programs toexecute the various implementations described herein.

Processor 452 may communicate with a user through a user interface thatincludes a control interface 458 and display interface 456 coupled to adisplay 454. The display 454 may be implemented through suitabledisplays including, for example, a projection display, a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), or light emitting diode (LED) display, to display variousdata. For example, in some implementations, the display of the userinterface 326 may display the AIR interface or the fetching parameterinterface. The display interface 456 may comprise appropriate circuitryfor driving the display 454 to present graphical and other informationto a user. The control interface 458 may receive commands from a userand convert them for submission to the processor 452. In addition, anexternal interface 462 may be provided in communication with processor452, so as to enable near area communication of device 450 with otherdevices. External interface 462 may provide, for example, for wiredcommunication (e.g., via a docking procedure) or for wirelesscommunication (e.g., via Bluetooth or other such technologies).

Device 450 may also communicate audibly using audio codec 460, which mayreceive spoken information from a user and convert it to usable digitalinformation. Audio codec 460 may likewise generate audible sound for auser, such as through a speaker, e.g., in a handset of device 450. Suchsound may include sound from voice telephone calls, may include recordedsound (e.g., voice messages, music files, etc.) and may also includesound generated by applications operating on device 450.

The audio codec 460 may, in some cases, be connected to or implementedwith a microphone or speaker. In some implementations, messages, such asa rejection message indicating that the requested content may not beacquired using the fetching parameter values provided by the user, maybe communicated through audio signals emitted from speakers. In someimplementations, certain applications, such as speech-to-textapplications may be executed by receiving audio or voice signals throughthe microphone.

Although not shown, computing device may also include sensors and inputunit(s). Sensors may include, for example, an optical sensor, capacitivesensor, charge-coupled device sensor, gyroscope, microphone, altimeter,impact sensor, piezoelectric sensor, motion sensor, biosensor, activepixel sensor, and various other sensors. The input unit(s) may includevarious devices that are configured to receive one or more inputs. Forexample, the input unit may include a mouse, touch pad, or keyboard forreceiving alphanumeric text.

The implementations noted above describe exemplary scenarios, systems,and methods in which a system predicts and downloads content before atime the user anticipates not having access to a wireless networkconnection. Similar implementations may be executed in order to uploadcontent before a time the user anticipates not having wirelessconnection. For example, a system may anticipate that the user is likelynot to have access to the Internet at some time in future, and mayprovide recommendations for the user device to upload data from the userdevice to a particular destination, such as a cloud network, database,or server. If the user agrees with the recommendation, the system maythen upload content at the recommended time.

While this specification contains many specifics, these should not beconstrued as limitations on the scope of the disclosure or of what maybe claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific toparticular embodiments. Certain features that are described in thisspecification in the context of separate embodiments may also beimplemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, variousfeatures that are described in the context of a single embodiment mayalso be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in anysuitable sub-combination. Moreover, although features may be describedabove as acting in certain combinations and may even be claimed as such,one or more features from a claimed combination may in some cases beexcised from the combination, and the claimed combination may bedirected to a sub-combination or variation of a sub-combination.

Similarly, while actions are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such actions beperformed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or thatall illustrated actions be performed, to achieve desirable results.Moreover, the separation of various system components in the embodimentsdescribed above should not be understood as requiring such separation inall embodiments, and it should be understood that the described programcomponents and systems may generally be integrated together in a singlesoftware product or packaged into multiple software products.

It should be understood that the phrase one or more of and the phrase atleast one of include any combination of elements. For example, thephrase one or more of A and B includes A, B, or both A and B. Similarly,the phrase at least one of A and B includes A, B, or both A and B.

Thus, particular implementations have been described. Otherimplementations are within the scope of the following claims. Forexample, the actions recited in the claims may be performed in adifferent order and still achieve desirable results.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:training a neural network system using activity log data; by one or morecomputing devices and based on the training of the neural network systemusing the activity log data: identifying a first previous time period ofintermittent network connectivity in which one or more conditions weresatisfied, wherein at least one of the one or more conditions includes athreshold battery level, determining a content type obtained by a userduring the first previous time period associated with the one or moreconditions being satisfied, determining a first future time period ofintermittent network connectivity during which the one or moreconditions will be satisfied, wherein determining the first future timeperiod includes determining the first future time period as extendingfrom a first particular future time to a second particular future timethat occurs after the first particular future time, and generating anotification that includes a recommendation to schedule acquisition ofdata of the content type at the first particular future time and uponsatisfaction of the one or more conditions; presenting, by the one ormore computing devices and prior to the first particular future time,the notification that includes the recommendation at a display of aparticular computing device of the one or more computing devices,wherein the first particular future time and the one or more conditionsare visible, in the notification, to a user of the particular computingdevice; receiving, by the one or more computing devices, in response topresenting the notification, and prior to the first particular futuretime, a responsive user input indicating user acceptance or rejection ofthe recommendation to schedule acquisition of the data at the firstparticular future time and upon satisfaction of the one or moreconditions for acquiring the data at the first particular future time,wherein the one or more conditions for acquiring the data are inaddition to the first particular future time; and in response toreceiving the responsive user input indicating user acceptance of therecommendation: obtaining, by the one or more computing devices from oneor more content delivery servers and based on the one or more conditionsbeing satisfied, the data of the content type at the first particularfuture time; further training the neural network system based on theuser acceptance of the recommendation to schedule acquisition of thedata at the first particular future time and upon satisfaction of theone or more conditions, as indicated by the received responsive userinput; determining, using the further trained neural network system, aparticular output time during the determined first future time period tooutput the obtained data; and controlling, by the one or more computingdevices, a display to output the obtained data at the particular outputtime.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein: the one ormore conditions include a content type, a content size, a location, afinancial threshold to purchase the data, and a wireless connectivitythreshold; and the activity log data includes activity data indicativeof user behavior.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, whereindetermining the first future time period and the one or more conditionsfor acquiring data based on the training of the neural network systemusing the activity log data includes: determining one or more of: a sizeof the content type; a likely financial cost of obtaining the data atthe first particular future time; and an availability of funds to payfor the likely financial cost.
 4. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein determining the first future time period includes:determining a likely level of wireless connectivity of a user deviceduring the first future time period; determining a probability that anentirety of the data is downloadable at the determined likely level ofwireless connectivity during the first future time period; anddetermining that the probability exceeds a confidence threshold.
 5. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: controlling,by the one or more computing devices, an output device to output thenotification the output device including the display, wherein the userinput is received using a graphical user interface displayed by thedisplay.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein theparticular output time is a time at which a user device including thedisplay and the one or more computing devices are not connected to awireless network.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, whereindetermining the first future time period and the one or more conditionsfor acquiring data based on the training of the neural network systemusing the activity log data includes: determining one or moreapplications that are configured to obtain application data at aparticular time before outputting the application data using the one ormore applications; and determining a particular content type of theapplication data, a content size of the application data, a likelyfinancial cost of obtaining the application data at the first particularfuture time, and an availability of funds to pay for the likelyfinancial cost.
 8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia comprising instructions, which, when executed by one or morecomputing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to performoperations comprising: training a neural network system using activitylog data; based on the training of the neural network system using theactivity log data: identifying a first previous time period ofintermittent network connectivity in which one or more conditions weresatisfied, wherein at least one of the one or more conditions includes athreshold battery level, determining a content type obtained by a userduring the first previous time period associated with the one or moreconditions being satisfied, determining a first future time period ofintermittent network connectivity during which the one or moreconditions will be satisfied, wherein determining the first future timeperiod includes determining the first future time period as extendingfrom a first particular future time to a second particular future timethat occurs after the first particular future time, and generating anotification that includes a recommendation to schedule acquisition ofdata of the content type at the first particular future time and uponsatisfaction of the one or more conditions; presenting, prior to thefirst particular future time, the notification that includes therecommendation at a display of a user device, wherein the firstparticular future time and the one or more conditions are visible, inthe notification, to a user associated with the user device; receiving,in response to presenting the notification and prior to the firstparticular future time, a responsive user input indicating useracceptance or rejection of the recommendation to schedule acquisition ofthe data at the first particular future time and upon satisfaction ofthe one or more conditions, wherein the one or more conditions foracquiring the data are in addition to the first particular future time;and in response to receiving the responsive user input indicating useracceptance of the recommendation: obtaining, from one or more contentdelivery servers and based on the one or more conditions beingsatisfied, the data of the content type at the first particular futuretime; further training the neural network system based on the useracceptance of the recommendation to schedule acquisition of the data atthe first particular future time and upon satisfaction of the one ormore conditions, as indicated by the received responsive user input;determining, using the further trained neural network system, aparticular output time during the determined first future time period tooutput the obtained data; and controlling a display to output theobtained data at the particular output time.
 9. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein: theone or more conditions include the content type, a content size, alocation, a financial threshold to purchase the data, and a wirelessconnectivity threshold; the activity log data includes activity dataindicative of user behavior; and the particular output time is a time atwhich the user device including the display is not connected to awireless network.
 10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 8, wherein determining the first future time andthe one or more conditions for acquiring data based on the training ofthe neural network system using the activity log data includesdetermining one or more of: a size of the content type; a likelyfinancial cost of obtaining the data at the first particular futuretime; and an availability of funds to pay for the likely financial cost.11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media ofclaim 8, wherein determining the first future time period includes:determining a likely level of wireless connectivity of the user deviceduring the first future time period; determining a probability that anentirety of the data is downloadable at the determined likely level ofwireless connectivity during the first future time period; anddetermining that the probability exceeds a confidence threshold.
 12. Theone or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8,wherein determining the first future time period and the one or moreconditions for acquiring data based on the training of the neuralnetwork system using the activity log data includes: determining one ormore applications that are configured to obtain application data at aparticular time before outputting the application data using the one ormore applications; and determining a content type of the applicationdata, a content size of the application data, a likely financial cost ofobtaining the application data at the first particular future time, andan availability of funds to pay for the likely financial cost.
 13. Asystem comprising: one or more computers and one or more storage devicesstoring instructions that are operable and when executed by one or morecomputers, cause the one or more computers to perform actionscomprising: training a neural network system using activity log data;based on the training of the neural network system using the activitylog data: identifying a first previous time period of intermittentnetwork connectivity in which one or more conditions were satisfied,wherein at least one of the one or more conditions includes a thresholdbattery level, determining a content type obtained by a user during thefirst previous time period associated with the one or more conditionsbeing satisfied, determining a first future time period of intermittentnetwork connectivity during which the one or more conditions will besatisfied, wherein determining the first future time period includesdetermining the first future time period as extending from a firstparticular future time to a second particular future time that occursafter the first particular future time, and generating a notificationthat includes a recommendation to schedule acquisition of data of thecontent type at the first particular future time and upon satisfactionof the one or more conditions; presenting, prior to the first particularfuture time, the notification that includes the recommendation at adisplay of a user device associated with a user, wherein the firstparticular future time and the one or more conditions are visible, inthe notification, to the user of the user device; receiving, in responseto presenting the notification and prior to the first future time, aresponsive user input indicating a user acceptance or rejection of therecommendation to schedule acquisition of the data at the firstparticular future time and upon satisfaction of the one or moreconditions for acquiring the data at the first particular future time;and in response to receiving the responsive user input indicating useracceptance of the recommendation: obtaining, one or more contentdelivery servers and based on the one or more conditions beingsatisfied, the data of the content type at the first particular futuretime; further training the neural network system based on the useracceptance of the recommendation to schedule acquisition of the data atthe first particular future time and upon satisfaction of the one ormore conditions, as indicated by the received responsive user input;determining, using the further trained neural network system, aparticular output time during the determined first future time period tooutput the obtained data; and controlling a display to output theobtained data at the particular output time.
 14. The system of claim 13,wherein: the one or more conditions include the content type, a contentsize, a location, a financial threshold to purchase the data, and awireless connectivity threshold; the activity log data includes activitydata indicative of user behavior; and the particular output time is atime at which a user device including the display and the one or morecomputers is not connected to a wireless network.
 15. The system ofclaim 13, wherein determining the first future time period and the oneor more conditions for acquiring data based on the training of theneural network system using the activity log data includes determiningone or more of: a size of the content type; a likely financial cost ofobtaining the data at the first particular future time; and anavailability of funds to pay for the likely financial cost.
 16. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein determining the first future time periodincludes: determining a likely level of wireless connectivity of theuser device during the first future time period; determining aprobability that an entirety of the data is downloadable at thedetermined likely level of wireless connectivity during the first futuretime period; and determining that the probability exceeds a confidencethreshold.
 17. The system of claim 13, wherein determining the firstfuture time period and the one or more conditions for acquiring databased on the training of the neural network system using the activitylog data includes: determining one or more applications that areconfigured to obtain application data at a particular time beforeoutputting the application data using the one or more applications; anddetermining a content type of the application data, a content size ofthe application data, a likely financial cost of obtaining theapplication data at the first particular future time, and anavailability of funds to pay for the likely financial cost.